Buerkle and Maffei make financial history in NY-25 race

View full sizeStephen D. Cannerelli / The Post-StandardDemocratic Congressman Dan Maffei and his challenger Republican candidate Ann Marie Buerkle shake hands at the end of a debate at YNN Studios at Time Warner Cable in East Syracuse on Oct. 13.

Washington -- U.S. Rep. Dan Maffei and Ann Marie Buerkle have raised more than $3 million for their campaigns this year, making this the most expensive congressional election in the Syracuse area’s history, new federal disclosure reports show.

Maffei, D-DeWitt, led the way by spending about $1.9 million so far on his first re-election campaign, more than six times the $318,000 spent by Buerkle, according to reports the campaigns filed Friday with the Federal Election Commission.

Maffei reported raising about $2.7 million through Sept. 30, a record high for the Syracuse-area seat represented by the 25th Congressional District, the records show.

Buerkle, a lawyer and former nurse from Onondaga Hill, reported raising about $505,000 during the same period.

Going into the crucial final weeks of the campaign, Maffei reported having about $773,000 cash on hand in his campaign bank account, compared with $187,000 for Buerkle.

But a new dynamic could help level the playing field for Buerkle. A Washington, D.C., group called American Crossroads has pledged to spend $410,000 this week on TV ads critical of Maffei.

American Crossroads is affiliated with former President George W. Bush’s former political advisers, Karl Rove and Ed Gillespie. The independent group is not required to disclose the source of its donations.

Maffei’s campaign noted that as a percentage of donations, Buerkle received 44 percent of her money from outside New York state, compared to 27 percent for Maffei. But in actual dollar terms, Maffei has raised three times Buerkle’s total from outside the state.

Maffei’s campaign said the federal disclosure reports prove that Buerkle is far from the anti-government, Washington outsider that she claims to be in her campaign rhetoric.

“Anne Marie Buerkle likes to pretend she is grass roots, but the fact of the matter is she has raised tens of thousands of dollars from Washington, D.C.- based political action committees, which dwarfs any money she gets from local donors,” said Michael Whyland, speaking for Maffei.

Buerkle said she found the amount of money flowing to Maffei to be troubling.

“I think our victory in November will be a victory for the people,” Buerkle said. “If the person who raises the most money wins the race, the system is even more broken than I thought.”

Maffei’s $2.7 million raised for the 2010 election broke his own district record of $2.36 million that he set in the 2008 campaign.

Said Buerkle: “I think the people in the district should be concerned about the amount of money he is raising, where it comes from and the amount of time he takes to raise that money.”